Perfect Imperfection
by Arual Enryb
Summary: Lily and James first couple of hours as husband and wife.


As James walked down the high road into Hogsmeade, he started thinking about the significance of the month of June. To James, June was always the month of new adventures. Sure, he and his friends played more than their fair share of pranks at Hogwarts, but summer was when they could really be free. Summer was when they could strike out on their own to see what mischief awaited them. Now, as he slowly walked along the familiar pathway with a certain vivacious redhead at his side, it was neither the road to mischief, nor the road to the Three Broomsticks, nor even the road to the Shrieking Shack; it was to road to home.

A light wind kicked up, and James put his jacket over Lily's bare shoulders. Her simple white dress was beautiful. When he first saw her in the dress earlier in the day at their wedding, she looked so elegant. Now, hours later, Lily still looked amazing; however, as the sun was going down, it was obvious that she was getting cold. The wind tossed her long hair into his face, but James didn't notice. All he could see was her. Lily smiled at James as he swept her hair out of his eyes and pulled her closer to him.

It was perfect, God, it was perfect, or as perfect as James could imagine. How he ever got lucky enough to get Lily Evans to go out with him, let alone marry him was quite beyond belief. He wished he could remember his wedding better, but to be honest, it was one big blur! In fact, a good deal of it was spent on just fighting to stay conscious. When Lily first entered the room, James had tried to play off bumping into his best man, Sirius Black, as just a friendly buddy nudge. In actuality, he wasn't so sure his knees were working properly. When he first saw Lily enter the room, he relied on Sirius to keep from falling down.

Now that the wedding was over, and they finished celebrating with friends, they were finally going home...together. Walking together...holding hands together...alone together...the rest of their lives together. Oh God! Where was Sirius when he needed someone to prop him up? If he didn't stop thinking about this, he was going to pass out. Lily would have to carry him home. This was not how he wanted the first few hours of married life to begin.

Soon enough they were at the front gate of the newly rented cottage in Hogsmeade. It wasn't much, but the small three-room house was what they could afford. Lily might not have had the big church wedding James learned about in Muggle Studies, but there was one tradition he was determined she would have. He was going to carry his bride over the threshold. It seemed to James that girls like that sort of thing.

When he mentioned this romantic gesture to his friends, something he soon thought better of, a whole host of unwanted reactions occurred. Peter started them off by making gagging noises.

Snickers of, "Are you in that much of a rush for what comes after that you think she can't walk?" came courtesy of Sirius.

Remus, on the other hand, proved moderately more helpful. After all, his mother was a Muggle and he understood the sentiment. Well, at least James thought Remus pretended to try to understand the sentiment.

"I know you want to make it all romantic and nice for Lily." said Remus, with a diplomatic smile, "The thing is, you tend to muddle things up when you're nervous, Prongs. Try to avoid smacking Lily's head into the doorframe, because if you are even half as nervous then as you are now, it's going to be a problem."

Keeping Remus' advice in mind, James whisked his bride into his arms with only a few steps to the front door to go. As she found herself lofted in the air, Lily had an odd look in her eye and let out a slight squeal. It wasn't often that James could totally take Lily off guard, and he loved it! Fortunately his knees were now working properly and he didn't drop her, he didn't bang her into anything, and he didn't even fumble over a locked door, because he managed to have his wand in hand for a well-timed _Alohomora_. He did, however, forget that Lily was carrying what remained of their wedding cake. In fact, she was not so much carrying it anymore as she was wearing it.

"Oh Lily...Oh no...I am so...Oh God...so sorry," stammered James, grimacing as he put Lily down, "I ruined it. I positively made a mess. I can't believe I..."

"James, its just cake; you didn't break anything we could have saved forever." interrupted Lily, smiling at her befuddled husband, "It didn't really get on me at all; I'm afraid your jacket was on the receiving end of most of it. Trust me, a quick cleaning spell and it will all be as good as new."

"Well let me get it out of here so you aren't wearing dessert. I'll just put the jacket in the kitchen and we can deal with it later." suggested James, taking the jacket off Lily's shoulders and heading toward the kitchen.

As he rested the jacket over the back of the nearest chair, James could hear soft music playing in the other room. Lily must have turned on the radio.

When he reentered the living room, James, noticed that Lily was fingering a few trinkets by the window. She was humming softly to the music. This gave him an idea.

"Care to dance, Mrs. Potter?" he said, as he came up behind her.

"I'd love to", replied Lily smiling.

As James took her in his arms and they started to sway to the music, he never thought that he would tire of looking at that smile. He was glad that his nerves seemed to be settling down.

"Mrs. Potter," laughed Lily, "I'm going to have to get used to that, and stop looking around for your mother!"

Why, oh why did she have to say _that_? That wasn't a comparison that James needed. He really didn't want to be thinking of his mother just now. His nerves were returning, and he could only think of one thing to do to stop them and the images of dancing with his mother that were floating through his brain. He took Lily's face in his hands and kissed her.

James was a little rougher than he intended, but Lily didn't seem to be complaining. She actually gave a contented sigh that put him right at ease. After a moment, he broke the kiss, and started to run his hands down the side of her face to her neck and shoulders. That contented little sigh Lily had given seconds before was now an absolute purr, or was it a muffled wince, or stifled shriek?

"Ouch! James stop! My hair is caught in the button on your cuff." cried Lily, clearly in pain.

"Oh great...maybe if I," James was stammering for the second time within fifteen minutes. He couldn't believe married life was off to such an accident-prone start. "...if you hold still and...wait, wait I think...there that does iiiiiiiiiiitttttttttttttttttt!"

_THUD!_

James' buttons were out of Lily's hair, but he had somehow sent them crashing to the carpeted floor when he accidentally stepped on the back of Lily's dress. At least he took the brunt of the fall; Lily was lying on top of him looking quite surprised.

"Well, I always said I was head over heels about you, Lily." said James grinning sheepishly, desperately trying to make light of the situation.

"James, I love you because you are so perfectly imperfect. Just keep us laughing and we can get through today and the rest of our lives." said Lily, planting a gentle kiss on James' forehead before she rolled off of him onto the floor giggling.

Before he drew her back close to him, James thought, "This is love. This is real. Loving someone because of their flaws not in spite of them is what Lily and I share that is so special, and this is only the beginning..."

Lily had only a minute to giggle to herself. James was so cute when he was nervous. Truth be told, she was just as nervous as he was; she just was able to hide it better. Playful teasing was what Lily did to cover her jitters, only James hadn't quite figured that out yet.

Soon James gently pulled her onto her back so that she was now facing up at him. He still had that sheepish grin on his face that enabled him to charm his way out of most mischief at school. For Lily, however,it simply made him more irresistable.

"James," said Lily softly, risking an attack of nerves with straightforward honesty, "you do realize that you're completely adorable when you try too hard."

"Adorable? I'm adorable? Ouch! Puppies are adorable, Lily. That's not exactly what I was aiming for," whimpered James still grinning.

Fine, if James was going to insist on knowing how he made her feel, Lily was going to have to show him. She would simply have to expand her vocabulary a bit. Plus if she could make a game out of it, her rising aprehension might subside.

"Well, not _only_ adorable," said Lily coyly as she slyly brushed his hair out of his eyes, and then moved her hand to behind his head pulling him closer.

"What else?" asked James, playing along.

"Well I could go through the alphabet. Adorable was just the first word. Then there's bewitching," said Lily as she kissed him softly.

Breaking the kiss after a moment James responded, "Adorable and bewitching. I think you've gone from bad to worse. I may need more convincing."

If he wanted more words, more words he would get…words and a couple of other things Lily had in mind.

"Not just adorable," murmerd Lily kisssing him again, but not clearly as long as James would have liked, since he groaned slightly as she broke the kiss.

"Not just bewitching," she kissed him tauntingly again. Only this time, Lily also removed his glasses, and placed them on the floor behind her.

"Captivating," whispered Lily, looking up at him seductively through her lashes, "I think describes your eyes."

James was now stroking the side of her face with one hand while still supporting himself on his side with the other.

She pulled him back down to her, if she looked into his eyes too long she would not have the will power to continue this little game, and right now she was enjoying teasing James.

When Lily next tried to break the kiss, James had other ideas. He didn't seem to have any intention of letting her up for air. Playing along and deepening the kiss herself, Lily slowly moved her right hand from the back of James' head to his neck down his back and then slowly and lightly she dragged her fingernails up his side.

One thing that Lily had learned early on in their relationship was that James was ticklish. James, try as he might couldn't hold out. As he tried in vain to choke back a laugh, Lily had her opportunity.

As she pulled away Lily moved slightly to her left and blew in James' ear, "Then there's delectable."

She was rewarded with a slight shudder from James.

As she more nibbled than kissed her way across his jaw Lily managed to undo one of James' shirt buttons with each word, "enthralling, fascinating, gripping," Lily paused, distracted by what could only mean James was enjoying this game. Either he was enjoying it or the golden snitch was in his pants' pocket. As much as James loved Quidditch, this was highly unlikely.

As she untucked his shirttails from his trousers and undid the final button, Lily paused again, momentarily unable to think anything sexy that began with the letter 'h'. Then it came to her as she ran her hands up under the loosened shirt to his shoulders, "Handsomely intriguing."

"All right, all right, Lily, I surrender! We're not going to go through the entire alphabet are we?" asked James in a strained voice.

"Not if you're convinced," Lily replied seductively.

"I'm convinced, that as much as I love holding you, we could be someplace a lot more comfortable than this floor," James stood up and offered Lily his hand.

As James pulled her to her feet, Lily's stomach began to do flip-flops. Standing there with his shirt unbuttoned James made Lily catch her breath. She'd seen him shirtless before, but this time it was different. Now, there was no danger of anyone interrupting them. As she folded herself into his embrace, Lily tried to calm her recurring nerves.

It wasn't that she hadn't wanted to take their relationship further. They had both known for a year that they were truly committed to each other, but the opportunity had simply never presented itself. They had more respect for each other than to use the infamous astronomy tower, or the Quidditch locker-room for their first time together. Home was out of the question, their families, especially Petunia, never seemed to go anywhere. Lastly, borrowing Sirius' flat, though Lily was sure it had been offered, would have seemed so tawdry. So tonight they really were on new ground.

Lily soon became aware that James had begun slowly undoing the zipper that went up the back of her high collared dress. However the night turned out, one thing was certain, though beautiful, her dress was in the way. She really wanted everything to be perfect, well as perfect as was possible. Given what had happened earlier, she was rapidly revising her expectations to enjoyable. She looked up at James and said, "I need a favor. Just give me five minutes and then I'll join you in our bedroom."

"Ok, five minutes," said James, "I could use a moment myself."

Lily gave a quick smile and then walked into their bedroom, picking up a box that she had left on the dresser and then proceeded into the bathroom. She closed the door and looked at herself in the mirror, noticing the one thing that was different about her-the ring on her left hand. As she looked down at the simple gold band she said to her reflection, "You're not Lily Evans anymore, you're Lily Potter now."

Lily turned around and slipped out of her wedding dress, and carefully placed it on a hanger then hung it the back of the door. She then turned her attention to the box that she had placed on the vanity as she came in. As she opened it up, she revealed a satiny crème colored nightgown and matching robe. The gown was short enough that James would get a rather striking view of her long legs. Chris-cross laces traveled up the front revealing her cleavage, and ribbon like straps would drape across her shoulders to hold it up.

For a brief moment, Lily doubted the durability of the gown. Then again it wasn't designed to be anything but delicate; that was the point. Besides, if things went as she hoped, she wouldn't actually be wearing it all that long.

Lily quickly slipped out of her remaining clothes and donned the satiny negligee and matching undergarment. As she pulled her long hair out of the back of the negligee she thought a minute, and then made a decision. James was used to seeing Lily with her hair down, or thrown into a fast ponytail. She wanted to do something a little sexier. There was no time for glamour charms but a fast loose twist with one large clip in place seemed to do the trick.

Lily took one last glance in the mirror while she put on her robe and spoke to her reflection as her hands fumbled with the ties, "Well, time to start the rest of your life, Lily." Then she turned and opened the bedroom door.

James had also been at work. The covers on their bed had been half way turned down, and the lights in the room were charmed to give the room almost a candlelight glow. James was standing shirtless in bare feet on a chair retrieving something from the top shelf of the closet. When he heard Lily shut the bathroom door he began to climb down hastily putting something in his pocket.

"I thought you said you needed five minutes. Don't women always take long…wow…oh…WOW!" James started stumbling over his words as soon as he got off the chair, turned around and actually got a good look at Lily.

"Maybe, I'm not all like women," replied Lily, then she continued hopefully, "So, do you like it?"

"Like isn't actually the word I was thinking of, it was more like _j_ust _k_issable, but…never mind, I think we've played enough alphabet games tonight… Can you stand there for a second?" James stammered as he made his request.

Lily nodded as James walked toward her. For the first time, Lily realized that James was just as nervous as she was. For some strange reason, that actually made Lily feel more relaxed.

As James took her face gently in his hands he said, "I love you, you know."

"I love you too." responded Lily softly, looking right into his eyes that betrayed both his nervousness and longing. She put her hands on his bare chest and shoulders as James drew her close.

At first his kiss was gentle, then it became deeper and full of passion. Lily couldn't remember any other time she felt so completely needed and wanted by James. His hands traveled from her face to her shoulders, then down around to her waist and came to rest at her sides.

Lily next felt James trace his hands along the ties of her satiny robe to where they were loosely fastened. He pulled back from her so that they were looking at each other nose to nose. Lily saw the unspoken, "May I?" in his eyes and nodded.

James' hands deftly untied the knot and then slipped the robe off her shoulders. The material puddled at Lily's feet. His hands felt both rough and soothing on her bare arms. He was about to pull Lily towards him again when Lily said, "Wait, my turn."

Lily's hands fumbled momentarily with the buckle of James' trousers, but only for a moment. She then managed the button, but found her hands shaking slightly as she dealt with the zipper. She couldn't help feel James react to all of this. It wasn't that this had never happened before. There were plenty of times that James had held Lily close in an embrace, or that she sat in his lap to know the effect she could have on him. This time, however, was different. Before, things had been passively noticed on her part, any contact on her part was almost involuntary.

Lily chose her moment; maybe being a little forward wasn't a bad thing. She undid the last of his zipper and the trousers fell to James' feet. Almost immediately, she pulled herself closer to James, nuzzling the underside of his neck. She then allowed her hand to cup upward over the front of James' boxers. Lily could hear James groan her name in response.

Tenderly, James tipped Lily's face up to his and said, "Come to bed?"

Lily expected James to maybe take her hand and lead her the few steps towards the bed, or maybe if he was going to be especially gallant to carry her as he did earlier. Somehow he managed, with that little boy quality that was all his own, to combine the two. He took her hand, but then suddenly picked her up under her arms and spun her around before landing her on the bed. Lily was sure she landed a little more roughly than James had intended, because he seemed to plop her rather than place her on the bed.

Lily shifted over to make room for James, and suppressed a giggle. Apparently James had not totally freed himself from one of his pant legs. It was caught around his ankle. When he spun Lily around he had entangled himself and almost tripped. He was attempting to nonchalantly kick off the last stubborn part as he joined Lily.

Lily put her hand behind James' neck and pulled him towards her. Only she didn't kiss him as he clearly expected. Rather, she whispered teasingly in his ear, "I assure you that this negligee is not nearly as complicated as your pants seem to be."

James' reply came slowly, his words broken up by leisurely deliberate actions.

"I hope…" James kissed a slow path back and forth from behind her ear down her neck.

"…since _you_ brought it up…" his hand lazily caressed her arm, and meandered its way to her side and then hesitantly to her breast. Her breathing quickened, and her right hand instinctively clutched the nape of his neck.

"…that you don't mind…" he carefully lowered her down to the pillows while his hand began to wander back and forth away from its path. Lily felt as if she had butterflies in her stomach when it was obvious James' hand wasn't exactly caressing her arm any longer.

"…if I make sure…" when Lily realized that his left hand was undoing her laces loop by loop, she could feel her chest tighten. The butterflies were becoming more intense, if she could even call them butterflies, because surprisingly she really wasn't nervous.

"…by taking…" James nibbled his way across her left shoulder moving her strap with his teeth until it hung limply at her elbow revealing more than he had ever seen of her before. Lily knew that her cheeks were turning the color of her hair. James didn't seem to care even though he paused a moment before he continued.

"…my time…" his voice was shakier than it had been. James' hot breath was causing goose bumps to form along Lily's bare skin. His chin, now slightly covered in stubble, felt rough against her as his nibbling kisses traveled lower and lower.

"…with my…" Lily gasped involuntarily from the sensations she had never experienced before. Lily couldn't believe how completely wonderful James was making her feel. She instinctively intertwined her long limber legs with James' pulling him closer.

"…beautiful wife." James shuddered as he finally reached the end of his sentence, reacting to Lily tracing her foot up and down the inside of his calf and thigh.

Lily didn't know how much longer she could think straight with James' hands and mouth roaming across her breasts. Before she lost all powers of concentration, she wanted to see if she could intensify what he was feeling.

At the moment, James too busy taking care of her to notice when Lily's hands crept down his sides to the band of his boxers.

"Oh God!" James panted out when her hand slipped inside the band.

Lily smiled coyly at him as her hand lazily ran a course up and down, "Well I couldn't let you have all the fun."

Luckily for James, Lily was far more coordinated than he was under pressure. She managed to dispense with his boxers without moving her very occupied hands. As soon as she had lowered the restricting waistband she caught the bottom edge of the fabric with her toes, and pulled them all the way off. James reaction was somewhere between amazed and very, very pleased.

"Lily," interrupted James, after an moment, "it's not that I'm _not_ enjoying this, but-"

"Too much of a good thing can be bad?" ventured Lily innocently, continuing the path her hands were on, but knowing exactly what James meant.

"Not a bad thing, just not very fulfilling…at least not for one of us." replied James grabbing her hands and rolling them over so that now Lily lay on top of him. Her opened negligee fell over their sides like a silky curtain.

In this new position, Lily could feel James much more intensely than before. She shifted her hips to bring them even closer, if that was possible. Her breathing quickened as James kissed the soft skin at the base of her neck and continued downward. Lily leaned upwards on her hands to give him better access as his attentions moved to her breasts.

James' hands deftly massaged her neck and shoulders while continuing his attentions. Lily could tell he was trying to remove the negligee and drew her arms out of the straps one at a time to help him. Before she knew it, James tossed the garment to the floor.

James rolled them onto their sides, his free hand stroked the side of Lily's face and then traveled downward over her arms then across her stomach. He gazed at longingly at Lily, "You are so beautiful. I love you."

As James caressed her, Lily realized that probably every wife had heard her husband say those words, but it didn't matter. What mattered was that she knew James sincerely and honestly meant them. Without those words all the gentle caresses and kisses were meaningless.

James' hands had now moved from Lily's stomach to the band of the undergarment she wore. It was the only barrier left between them. James slowly lowered the delicate fabric. He touched Lily intimately as he did eliciting a series of moans.

In her last lucid moments, Lily kicked free of the garment. She pulled James, who was still caressing her tenderly, almost on top of her.

Lily managed to stammer out, "James, please…I…you…I need you!" She arched upward grabbing his shoulders, trying to pull him closer. James captured her mouth passionately and then complied.

The sensation of joining as one wasn't as painful as Lily had been told. It was unusual at first, but truly not painful. As she relaxed, it was clearly more pleasurable than she had ever imagined. She moaned James' name as she grasped his back when they at last found a rhythm that satisfied them both.

As the intensity of emotion and feeling threatened to spiral out of control, Lily looked up into James' eyes which were glazed over in passion. She didn't even manage a full sentence before they cascaded over into completion. Only two words, "Love…you."

Afterwards, there was no need for words. Their eyes said it all as they wordlessly held each other. Lily nuzzled James' chest breathing in the scent that was his alone. She whimpered in disappointment when he suddenly let her go.

"Believe me, I'm not going anywhere." responded James to the questioning look in Lily's eyes. He kissed her lightly on the forehead and rolled over grasping at something on the floor.

Lily wondered what James was doing. He now had his pants in his hand. It didn't make any sense. He was going to put his pants on now?

"James, what are you-"Lily's question was interrupted by a small wrapped box that James removed from the pants' pocket.

"I hope you like this. I'm not an authority on romantic gifts Lily, but I did my best." said James hopefully as he placed the box in to Lily's hand.

Lily opened the box to find a gold heart locket inside. On the back the words "Always, James" were engraved. Lily just stared at it.

"I can take it back it you don't like it." said James meekly, as if he were unsure of where he stood.

"I love it James. I want to wear it now if you'll help me." said Lily handing the necklace to him.

James untangled the chain and placed it around Lily's neck. When he attached the clasp Lily turned to him and pulled him back down to the pillows, "Always, James. We are each others', always."


End file.
